First set is quite good. Strong Carini, Maze (Trey was playing guitar!), 46 Days. Tight Esther. Divided Sky was killer. Tour debut of Boogie On Reggae Woman was sweet. Set two starts off with a good Sand, but the DWD gets the plug pulled early, and from that point on set two takes a nap. Real sleeper. I'm sure it was fun to attend, so don't hurt me, folks! Luckily, Possum ripped. The encore says "leave early." Oh well. I still would have loved to been there partying and camping and shit. Esther would have been worth the flight! But some farts were dropped in set two, believe me, folks.

2nd Phish show. What an opening trio! I left my spot on the lawn for the pit about a minute into Carini. Metal awesomeness to set the tone for a more energetic night. Maze kept the high pace rolling, then 46 days closed the sequence with a lot of fun bluesy keys from page and some exploratory noodling and effects from trey with a little throwdown near the end. and then... a 2nd show Esther?! pretty wild. A guy shout-whispered in my friend's ear after the really dark sequence "it's all gonna be okay now." it was indeed. 555 is a nice mike piece imo, and was short but sweet. then Divided Sky! crew was stoked. a couple flubs, but it was all love. swept > sweep was interesting, but, eh. Then in a moment of pure fun, trey forgot most of the lyrics of the first verse of boogie on except "i'd like to make love to you, so you can make me scream." trey's having fun always love those funky keys from page here. mike and fish held down the low end for a straight up dance party. santos is one of my preferred KV songs, and it works as a fun little set closer, despite not being anything "epic."

as a Sandy, Sand is always fun to hear. and this one had some fun jamming; i remember particularly rocking out to fish's work on the drums, steady and persistent as trey layered some nice soloing on top while page added a little funk. (at this point some things starting hitting pretty hard, and I remember feeling like the rest of the set had a deeply "aquatic" vibe, driven home by CK's magnificent work. doesnt really strike me on the relisten, but hey, it was fun in the moment). A little exploration follows, then into the oh too familiar intro to dwd (again, mike's effects were really giving me like funky underwater dance party vibes... lol). Bathroom and other dventures ensued through caspian and mitm, and on relisten Caspain is fine, and mitm is just kind of a modern classic, although just a fine version; then the highlight of the night, a full Scents and subtle sounds. wow, in the moment, this was pretty transcendent. and i still loved it on relisten. one of the more special moments of the weekend. I like Bug, and it struck me in the moment how its kind of a perfect 'live concert' song as i watched Kuroda time up all the bright lights perfectly to the music. not taken very far, mike seemed to push them on into possum, which fucking rocked! the timing, lights, tension and release, glowstick wars, and high energy was a perfect way to end the set.

trio encore was interesting. felt nice to get a bittersweet motel; heavy things worked in this slot, i guess; and about to run really feels like a song trey is passionate about--he seems to really try to push it every time they play it. so it worked.

overall, a really fun show, and more cohesive and impactful than N1. alas, nothing mind blowing

Highlights of this strong 1st set include the rockin’ opening trio and a twilight Swept Away > Steep to follow Divided Sky in absolutely perfect-for-The-Gorge fashion.

The 2nd set is well-balanced but perhaps doesn’t exceed the sum of its parts. As with Friday’s Set II, there’s a light-and-dark dynamic here, with Mountains in the Mist and Bug providing reflective counterpoints to the up-tempo excursions. Both tunes share some DNA with Lifeboy (perfectly placed on Friday), so there seems to be a continued theme, though I think Friday’s was a much more successful (read: remarkable) set. Saturday’s centerpiece is a nearly 18-minute Scents and Subtle Sounds (complete with intro), which expands to welcome in The Gorge’s spacious landscape. About 10 minutes in, Trey deploys a certain electronic effect that dominates the sonic palette for several minutes, and while I recall enjoying it live, it strikes me an odd choice that doesn’t work so well on re-listen. Still, the jam soars again before a measured slide into Bug. Set-closer Possum rips in fine marsupial style.

It was nice to hear rarity Bittersweet Motel, but the encore made for a somewhat odd jumble of tunes. Overall average-great Phish on this fine Saturday night at The Gorge.